Happy 16th Birthday to My Blog!

Wow. I can't believe I started Olive Tree Genealogy blog in February 2003.

I've always had a structured timeline for posting, and for several years I posted every single day! I don't know how I did it.

For the past year or so I've been writing and posting three times a week. And yes, it gets more and more challenging to think of topics to talk about!

I write about lots of things - new databases online, tips for searching specific records, new projects Olive Tree Genealogy is working on, the new books I've completed and published, genealogy wish lists, genealogy discussions, and occasionally my own ancestors. I like to keep this blog more generic than talking about my own ancestry.

But I'm still hanging in and hoping my readers are getting something worthwhile out of my blogging - because believe me, it's not easy. It is truly a labour of love. The only thing that keeps  me going is my hope/belief that I'm adding something of value to online genealogy.

So... cheers! I'll keep blogging as long as I sense a need.

Happy 23rd Birthday Olive Tree Genealogy!!

Can you believe it???? Twenty-three (23!) ago my baby was born. No, not one of my children - that was when I started my website Olive Tree Genealogy

Olive Tree Genealogy actually began sometime in the winter of 1995 but it wasn't until February 1996 that it was given space on the old Rootsweb site.
 
Many of the big sites we use today did not exist when I set up Olive Tree Genealogy. CyndisList came online right after me. Rootsweb started up around the same time. Ancestry.com didn't exist.

I am often asked why I created Olive Tree Genealogy. After my husband died in 1993 and I was injured at school by a student, my enforced inactivity allowed me to begin creating Olive Tree Genealogy site. Visitors are also intrigued by the name - how and why did I come up with it? My middle name is Olive and I am named after my paternal grandmother Olive McGinnis. So it seemed an obvious step to name my site after her (Olive) and after our "tree".

I started with one ships list which contained my ancestor Cornelis Van Slyke's name, then I wrote  about Huguenots, Walloons, Loyalists and Palatines. The  ships list was so popular and I received so many requests for more that I began hunting for more. Now Olive Tree Genealogy has over 1,600 ships lists online. 

Look at me now! I am a dinosaur in Internet terms. 23 years is a very long life on the Internet. Wonder if I can last another 23!

Happy 23 Year Anniversary to Olive Tree Genealogy!

Olive Tree Genealogy actually began sometime in the winter of 1995 but it wasn't until February 1996 that it was given space on the old Rootsweb site. Imagine – my site has been on the Internet for 23 years - that's a LONG time for a website!

You can read a bit about me or see some of the early versions of Olive Tree Genealogy

I am often asked why I created Olive Tree Genealogy. After my husband died in 1993 and I was injured at school by a student, my enforced inactivity and loneliness was pretty tough to take. A friend suggested I learn how to set up a website on this new thing called "the internet".

An early version of Olive Tree Genealogy

Many of the big sites we use today did not exist when I set up Olive Tree Genealogy. CyndisList came online right after me. Rootsweb started up around the same time. Ancestry.com didn't exist. Hard to imagine, isn't it?  Olive Tree Genealogy is a senior in Internet days. Back then the few genealogy sites online were, as all sites were, battleship grey with no fancy bells and whistles like search engines!

I started with one ships passenger list and some historical articles I wrote about Huguenots, Walloons, Loyalists and Palatines. That one ship's list was so popular and I received so many requests for more that I began hunting for others. Now Olive Tree Genealogy has over 1,500 ships lists online. And they're all free. Everything on my site is free. No strings attached.

Truthfully I've lost count of how many pages and data (names of individuals) are online now.  I've also lost track of how many times I've attempted to come up with a more manageable navigation system for the site! It's so huge and covers so may topics that it's pretty much impossible to make it simple or easy. So fair warning - visiting Olive Tree Genealogy is like going to a relative's home that they've lived in for 23 years (see what I did there?) and it's had additions added over those 23 years. So many additions that it's a bit like a maze but you love it anyway because it's warm and cosy and a very friendly place to be. You also know that you can't visit in a half hour or even an hour, you have to plan to stay for awhile.

So please drop by Olive Tree Genealogy and stay awhile. With any luck you might find an ancestor or two!

WooHoo! Olive Tree Genealogy is 20 Years Old!!!

Twenty years ago my life changed. I started Olive Tree Genealogy website at a time when the internet was just in its baby stages. There were no webpage editors, no blogs, and no one I could ask for help. 

I learned to code my webpages manually, using trial and error. Most websites were battleship gray with no bells and whistles. I was pretty excited and proud of myself when I figured out how to make mine pink-peach! 

The winter of 1995 was actually the debut of the Olive Tree Genealogy website but it was only a few pages. 

It's was located at http://www.bconnex.net/~lschulze/

The nice graphics I created don't display and I don't have them anymore but you get the idea. 

February 1996 saw Olive Tree Genealogy move to Rootsweb.com as the full-fledged OTE site. Here's what Olive Tree Genealogy website looked like in 1997
 
In 1998, considering itself all grown up, Olive Tree Genealogy took its own domain name and moved to its current home. 

My website was among the first to bring primary sources to the Internet with its passenger lists of ships from the Netherlands to New York in the 17th Century. 

What started as a project to take my mind off my accident and losing my husband to cancer, became a career! 

Olive Tree Genealogy grew from a dozen pages to over 2500 pages, and over the years have created in total 10 websites and 10 blogs. If interested you can read the full Biography of Lorine, the creator of Olive Tree Genealogy

See the list of my 10 websites and 9 blogs
  
BLOGS

• Olive Tree Genealogy
• Ask Olive Tree
• Ancestors At Rest
• Past Voices: Letters Home
• The Paper Trail
• Antique Hunter
• Ollie's Yummy in Your Tummy
• Family Bibles
• Tea For Two
  

WEBSITES

• Olive Tree Genealogy
• Naturalization Records
• Ancestors At Rest
• All Census Records
• The Genealogy Spot
• Olive Tree Extras
• Past Voices
• All English Records
• The Great War
• Canadian Military Heritage Project 

WooHoo! 19 Years and Counting for Olive Tree Genealogy Website!

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to Olive Tree Genealogy...... Happy 19th Birthday to me. 

Olive Tree Genealogy began sometime in the winter of 1995 but it wasn't until February 1996 that it was given space on the old Rootsweb site.

That site is still online at http://rootsweb.com/~ote/ and it holds all the "extra" free databases and goodies that I don't have room for on Olive Tree Genealogy at http://olivetreegenealogy.com/

Eventually I purchased my own domain name "Olive Tree Genealogy" and set up another site as a companion to my "Ote" site.  

  I am often asked why I created Olive Tree Genealogy. After my husband died in 1993 and I was injured at school by a student, my enforced inactivity and loneliness was pretty tough to take. A friend suggested I learn how to set up a website on this new phenonemon called "the internet". 

Many of the big sites we use today did not exist when I set up Olive Tree Genealogy. CyndisList came online right after me. Rootsweb started up around the same time. Ancestry.com didn't exist. Hard to imagine, isn't it?  Olive Tree Genealogy is a senior in Internet days. Back then the few genealogy sites online were, as all sites were, battleship grey with no fancy bells and whistles like search engines!


I started with one ships passenger list and some historical articles I wrote about Huguenots, Walloons, Loyalists and Palatines. That  ship's list was so popular and I received so many requests for more that I began hunting for others. Now Olive Tree Genealogy has over 1,500 ships lists online. And they're all free.

What am I up to now? Well I'm busy with writing my books and maintaining my blogs and websites as well as my personal genealogy research of course. Here's a list of my main blogs and websites.

Blogs

Olive Tree Genealogy
Ask Olive Tree
Ancestors At Rest
Past Voices: Letters Home
The Paper Trail
Antique Hunter
Ollie's Yummy in Your Tummy
   
Websites    
 Olive Tree Genealogy
Naturalization Records
Ancestors At Rest
All Census Records
The Genealogy Spot
Olive Tree Extras
Past Voices
The Great War
Canadian Military Heritage Project

Writing genealogy and history books also keeps me pretty busy!  You can read a bit more about me if you are interested, or see some of the early versions of Olive Tree Genealogy at http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/olive-tree-genealogy-history.shtml

Happy 12th Birthday to Olive Tree Genealogy Blog

Happy Birthday to Olive Tree Genealogy Blog! Can you believe it is 12 years old? Almost a teenager, wow!

It all started when a friend invited me to post on his new blog and suggested I start my own blog. My response was "Huh? What's a blog?" Yep that's right. 12 years ago blogs were just starting up and not many people were aware of them. 

It was February in Canada. It was cold and snowy and we Canadians always get the February blahs. So I started a blog. This blog. And I found I loved doing it! 

My family always tell me I'm pretty talkative and here's proof: I've written 2691 blog posts since birth in February 2003.

How many times have my blog posts been read? The blog stats show almost 3 million pageviews (2,276,622 pageviews)

Here's a few stats that might be of interest - one is where my readers live and what browser is most often used.

No surprise that the majority of my readers live in the USA with Canada coming in second. And the most popular browser is Firefox. I am surprised at how popular Internet Explorer is!

I hope my readers aren't bored with me (yet) as I plan to carry on sharing my stories with you for another 12 years at least!!

Out of curiousity I looked up what the most popular blog posts were for the last 12 years. Omitting blog press releases about new genealogy goodies coming online, here are the top 5 posts in the last 12 years:

1. Personal Opinion about Copyright
   
2. Heads up all Genealogists!
   
3. What Happens to Your Genealogy Research When You're Gone?
   
4. Organizing Family Photos - creating a plan
   
5. Creating a Family Story Book Using Flip-Pal

And now I'm off to have some cake and blow out 12 candles.

Celebrating 200 Years Since Birth of Canada's First Prime Minister

Sir John Alexander Macdonald was the first Prime Minister of Canada. He was born January 11, 1815, Glasgow, United Kingdom and died June 6, 1891, in Ottawa He is buried in Cataraqui Cemetery in Kingston Ontario Canada

Notman Studio/Library and Archives Canada/C-010144

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has an extensive and varied collection of records related to Sir John Alexander Macdonald, including a virtual exhibition that includes personal papers, photos, artwork, and publications. 

Within LAC’s Sir John A. Macdonald collection, there are over 100,000 letters to and from family and close friends, which gives researchers a rare glimpse into his personal life.

Sir John A. Macdonald’s image has  been used in political cartoons, commercially in beer advertisements, as an endorsement for tomato chutney, and he has even been made into an action figure.

Sir John was the leading force behind Confederation in July 1867 and he left a legacy of greatness in his  political career spanning almost 50 years.

Library and Archives Canada,
Acc. No. 1996-278-2.34
Source: Molson Companies Limited, Montreal, Quebec.

To learn more about Sir John A. Macdonald and his legacy:

• Sir John A. Macdonald at a glance
• Listen to the podcast: Let us be Canadians: Sir John A. Macdonald
• Read other blog posts on Sir John A. Macdonald
• Explore the Sir John A. Macdonald fonds
• Explore his political and personal papers—Sir John A. Macdonald: Canada’s Patriot Statesman (archived site)
• Explore Canadian Confederation—Sir John A. Macdonald (archived site)
• View some of his portraits on Flickr
• Essay on Macdonald by Richard Gwyne
• Political Junkie Café—Success. Scandal. Sir John A.

18 Years Online for Olive Tree Genealogy!

Yes you read that number correctly. 18 years ago I started my website Olive Tree Genealogy.

Olive Tree Genealogy actually began sometime in the winter of 1995 but it wasn't until February 1996 that it was given space on the old Rootsweb site. 

That site is still online at http://rootsweb.com/~ote/ and it holds all the "extra" free databases and goodies that I don't have room for on Olive Tree Genealogy at http://olivetreegenealogy.com/
 
Many of the big sites we use today did not exist when I set up Olive Tree Genealogy. CyndisList came online right after me. Rootsweb started up around the same time. Ancestry.com didn't exist.

I am often asked why I created Olive Tree Genealogy. After my husband died in 1993 and I was injured at school by a student, my enforced inactivity allowed me to begin creating Olive Tree Genealogy site.

I started with one ships list and articles I wrote about Huguenots, Walloons, Loyalists and Palatines. The  ships list was so popular and I received so many requests for more that I began hunting for more. Now Olive Tree Genealogy has over 1,500 ships lists online. 

Look at me now! I am officially a dinosaur in Internet terms. Eighteen years is a very long life on the Internet.  

What am I up to now? Well I'm busy with my blogs and websites as well as my genealogy research of course. Here's the list of my blogs and websites.

Blogs  

Olive Tree Genealogy
Ask Olive Tree
Ancestors At Rest
Past Voices: Letters Home
The Paper Trail
Antique Hunter
Ollie's Yummy in Your Tummy
Family Bibles
Tea For Two
Chicken Chat

Websites

Olive Tree Genealogy
Naturalization Records
Ancestors At Rest
All Census Records
The Genealogy Spot
Olive Tree Extras
Past Voices
All English Records
The Great War
Canadian Military Heritage Project

Writing genealogy and history books also keeps me pretty busy!  You can read a bit more about me if you are interested, or see some of the early versions of Olive Tree Genealogy at http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/olive-tree-genealogy-history.shtml

Who knows, maybe Olive Tree Genealogy will still be around for its 25th Anniversary! 

Celebrating 11 Years of Olive Tree Genealogy Blog!

Happy belated 11th Birthday to Olive Tree Genealogy blog! I missed the actual birthday on February 9th but am pretty excited to announce that I've been publishing this blog for 11 years now! My first year (2003) I only write 12 posts, averaging one per month. That seems almost ludicrous to write one post a month now that I publish every day.

In fact I set a goal in 2010 to write a daily blog post. I didn't quite make it that year but am really happy to say that I've surpassed my goal for the last 3 years.

Every year I do a little better, write a little more. Here's the number of blog posts I've published for each year since 2003.

►  2013 (379)

►  2012 (407)

►  2011 (423)

►  2010 (316)

►  2009 (263)

►  2008 (192)

►  2007 (114)

►  2006 (17)

►  2005 (86)

►  2004 (26)

►  2003 (12)

My most popular blog post was about the release of the 1921 Canadian census with 4000 reads. Another popular one was the post I wrote about how to understand your DNA results. It had over 2000 reads! 

Sharing Memories is the most popular page on Olive Tree Genealogy blog with over 10,000 views of the prompts I post to encourage genealogist to record their own memories before they are gone forever. 

My readers come from all over the world which totally amazes and thrills me! Here's a list of the countries and the number of times someone in that country has read one of my blog posts. Pretty amazing and I am so grateful that you care enough to read this blog! 

United States	873587
Canada	178467
United Kingdom	63959
France	36491
Germany	27222
Russia	24916
Australia	18913
Ukraine	5784
China	4765
Netherlands	3948

Without my wonderful readers there would be no point to this blog. And so I thank you for allowing me to write and most of all for reading and commenting on my posts! Please join me while I blow out the 11 candles on my cake to celebrate another happy year of genealogy writing.

10 Years and 1, 929 Blog Posts Later

Image from FreeDigitalPhotos

February 9, 2003. A momentous day for me! Alms House Admission Records, New York City, NY 1855-1858 was my first blog post 10 years ago.

I'd never heard of a Blog when my buddy Steve Johnson of Interment.net suggested I start one. Taking me under his wing, he showed me his blog, then encouraged me to take the leap.... and I did.

Now, 10 years and 1, 929 blog posts later - Olive Tree Genealogy blog is still here! I can't believe I've found that much to talk about but my family says I'm a talker.

Sometimes I have writers' block and struggle with trying to find something interesting or unusual or thought-provoking to blog about. 

Speaking of things to write about, I welcome suggestions for topics or links to news stories you have spotted that you think are interesting and appropriate for Olive Tree Genealogy blog. Just send your idea or link to a news story to

                           GeneaReporters@gmail.com

My hope is that genealogists and historians enjoy my blog for another ten years, and will continue to read my stories and add your own comments to my posts. Don't be shy! Jump in and have your say.

Reenie's Day of Fun!

Olive Tree Genealogy is taking a day off. Yes!! Today's my birthday and my husband has planned what he calls "Reenie's Day of Fun"

I'm going to be enjoying four of my favourite activities - dining out, cooking, antiquing and technology.  I won't actually be cooking today, but I will be poking around one of my fav kitchen stores looking for new goodies to buy.

First - breakfast out at a local restaurant. Then to the city to the kitchen store.

Then it's off for lunch at a restaurant I love but rarely get to. I can smell those Red Lobster biscuits already!

One of my Antique Silver Desk Bells

Lucky me I then get to go to an antique store where hubs has told me to choose one of the antique silver desk bells I've been drooling over. I collect them and have been longing to buy another to add to the collection.

Then a technology store I love to check out the new mini iPad and other stuff.

Wow - Reenie's Day of Fun starts now! I'll be back tomorrow with genealogy news.

Sweet Sixteen for Olive Tree Genealogy - Happy Birthday!

Happy 16th Birthday Olive Tree Genealogy!

Did you know that my website Olive Tree Genealogy will be 16 (SIXTEEN!!) years old this month?

That's right! Olive Tree Genealogy actually began in the winter of 1995 on space on my first ISP (bconnex.net).

The very first primary record I put online was a ships passenger list from 1634. And that was the start of my obsession compulsion commitment to bringing free genealogy records online for all to use.

In February 1996 Olive Tree Genealogy was given free space on the then brand new Rootsweb site.

In 2001 I purchased my domain OliveTreeGenealogy.com and moved into the space where the site still remains at http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com  

Genealogists often ask me how and why I started Olive Tree Genealogy. Making a long story short, my husband passed away in 1993 after a 2 year struggle with cancer. That same year I was badly injured at school by a disturbed student.

An unsuccesful operation ensued followed by two years of enforced inactivity when I was not able to work. During this time a dear friend suggested I create a website for the internet which was emerging as we know it now.

When I began my online adventures it was DOS, no windows environments. Rootsweb didn't exist. Ancestry didn't exist. We all started about the same time, as did Cyndi's List. Yep, we are all dinosaurs in Internet years!

So I learned how to create a website, how to code in html (no web editors back then) and how to upload files to a remote host. And Olive Tree Genealogy was born.

You can read a bit about me or see some of the early versions of Olive Tree Genealogy at History of Olive Tree Genealogy

Olive Tree Genealogy Blog is 9 Years Old Today!

Happy Birthday Olive Tree Genealogy Blog!

Happy 9th Birthday to Olive Tree Genealogy Blog! That's right - 9 years ago today on February 9, 2003, my first blog post was published.

Wow! I can't believe I'm still writing. My family always says I talk a lot....

And here I am, 1500+ posts later... still writing and talking!

Thanks to my wonderful readers who make it all worthwhile! Here's to you!

And guess what? My website Olive Tree Genealogy will be 16 (that's right, I said SIXTEEN!) years old this month.... time flies! And now for some cake.....